Ocala man found guilty of double homicide and attempted homicide in July 2023 shooting on W. University Avenue
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ja’zier Antonio Myers, 21, has been found guilty by a jury of two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide for a July 2023 shooting near Checkers on W. University Avenue. Myers had previously entered a plea of nolo contendere to a charge of possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent (juvenile conviction).
On July 30, 2023, Gainesville Police Department officers who were in the area of 900 W. University Avenue for crowd control heard multiple gunshots at about 2:42 a.m. and found three people who had been shot. One victim who later died was found in front of Checkers, 912 W. University Avenue, and a second victim was found in the same area, flagging down officers. A third victim, who was shot first, was found deceased in front of Bodytech, 806 W. University Avenue.
Surveillance video reportedly showed Myers walking near the third victim at about 2:40 a.m. and showed Myers shooting the victim in the head at close range as they passed Bodytech.
Ronald DuBois and Ronnie Lee James, Jr. were killed in the incident.
The second victim, who was shot in the abdomen, told officers that he was ordering food at Checkers when he heard people arguing behind him; when he turned around, he said he saw Myers shoot the first victim at close range. He ran and was shot in the process.
Witnesses on scene told officers that they were in their car when an unknown person, later identified as Myers, got in their car with a gun. They said the man refused to get out of their car until officers approached, at which point Myers got out and dropped the gun. He was detained at that time.
Myers’ trial lasted three days, and the jury deliberated for over two hours before returning a guilty verdict on all three counts. Myers will be sentenced on September 30 and could face a life sentence in prison.
Assistant State Attorneys Christopher Elsey and Daniel Ley led the prosecution, and Judge James Colaw presided over the trial.
Life with no parole
Did he have a motive to shoot these people? Drugs? Not enough fries?
Mispronounced Name?
Chair
Bye bro. Enjoy prison.
Colaw? Oh yea he’s done
Yeah Colaw is the hangin’ judge. He gets the sentences perfect.
Right just by the judge alone he hung and six feet under at this point. All that judge do is hang ppl big or small you definitely get time.
senseless….he probably put more thought into how his hair was going to be twisted than he spent thinking about the lives he took. Enjoy the big house. You will have plenty of time to think about it and your stupid hair, too.
With a hairstyle like that conviction was a certainty.
What does his hair style have to do with his actions! Stop being simple minded and Grow up!
A culture of violence puts another away for likely a life sentence. Nice sideshow bob dreds btw.
This genius needs to get the death penalty. He has no soul.
Give him a nice crew cut when he gets to prison and some lipstick & mascara…
Seems to me that two murders and an attempted murder ought to buy this guy “the needle.” What do you have to do to get the death penalty?
I am not “blaming the victims”, BUT.
At 2:42 AM in that part of town, there are only two kinds of people roaming the streets.
Shooters, and the people they are going to shoot.
Both groups volunteered to be there.
If it was a safe place to be, GPD would not already have a patrol on scene for “crowd control.” This shows that no amount of “increased police presence” stops this sort of thing. They just get there quicker to solve the crime and give first aid to the victims. Got to come up with a different sort of prevention, like a Gun Violence Task force, where good citizens over forty can meet at a hotel and eat little meatballs on toothpicks from a warming tray while saying “What are we going to do about all this youth violence?”